Monday, September 30, 2013

Braised Shortribs

These beef shortribs have been on our menu for years; they are simply too good to replace!

This recipe requires about 3.5 hours of cooking time. It is worth spending a little extra time at the grocer to get shortribs that are roughly the same size to ensure even cooking. 4# of meat per person may sound like a lot, but much of this weigh is bone, and the beef cooks down quite a bit.

They are delicious served with creamy polenta and sauteed greens, or with our Alaska Root Vegetable Gratin. The vegetables that cook with the shortribs take on the delicious flavor of the braising liquid; the carrots are especially worth savouring.

This recipe originally came from former head chef, Kenneth Hockert, who is now in San Francisco making delicious Eastern European and Jewish ‘soul food’ out of his food truck. Check him out at: http://www.oldworldfoodtruck.com/.

Braised Short Ribs

serves 4

4 short ribs – one #4 Rib per person

salt and Pepper

2 onions

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

6 cloves of garlic

3 each whole canned tomatoes

handful of fresh thyme

2 stalks rosemary

3 each bay leaves

3 cups chicken or beef stock

1 cup red wine

1) Take short ribs and season them individually on all sides with salt and pepper.

2) Peel and cut the carrot into large dice pieces. Cut the celery and onion in similar sized pieces.

3) Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and squeeze out pulp and seeds, then cut each half again to make quarters.

4) In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, sear short ribs for 2-3 minutes a side. Ensure that ribs are nicely caramelized on all sides. Place seared ribs in a heavy-duty baking dish, at least 4 inches in depth.

5) Deglaze the cast iron pan with ¼ cup of red wine and then add onions, carrot, celery, and whole garlic cloves to cast iron and proceed to caramelize them a bit, 6-8 minutes.

6) Once the vegetables are finished add them to the pan with the shortribs. Add the remaining wine to the skillet for a final deglaze and reduce by a third.

7) Add enough stock to the ribs to cover them ¾ of the way. Add the thyme sprigs, rosemary sprigs, and the 3 bay leaves to the pan and cover well with foil, or the lid of the baking dish.

8) Cook ribs in 350 degree oven for 3 hours checking every 45 minutes to make sure moisture level has not gone below half. If it does, add more stock to bring the level up.

9) One ribs are tender, about 3 hours, turn them so the meat side faces serving side up, and put them back in the oven, uncovered for 20 minutes to get a small crust and dark color. Remove from oven and cool for about 15 minutes.

10) Remove ribs from the pan. Pick out herb sprigs and bay leaves and discard. Strain braising liquid and reserve the cooked vegetables. Skim the fat and use the braising liquid as a sauce when serving the shortribs.

Barbecued Alaskan King Salmon

Salmon has a firm flesh and a delicate flavor, lending itself to many culinary applications. It can be smoked, poached, broiled, seared, baked, steamed, or grilled. Salmon can be paired with a wide range of condiments, from the most simple, delicate butter sauces to more complex sauces and salsas.

Unlike salmon most commonly consumed in the Lower 48 states, Alaska salmon is wild, not farm raised. The flavor of most farm-raised salmon tends to be more homogenous than the rich, sweet flavor of wild salmon. Even though wild salmon is more costly and harder to find, it is well worth the expense. Sockeye, king, chum, coho, and humpback are the five wild salmon species fished in Alaskan waters. At Camp Denali and North Face Lodge, we serve king salmon.

Barbecued Alaskan King Salmon

Yield: 6 servings

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons margarine

2 pounds center-cut king salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges

12 sprigs parsley

1) Light a grill. Fashion a tray out of a double thickness of aluminum foil, with ½-inch sides, large enough to fit your grill basket. Melt together the butter and margarine. Grease the bottom of the boil tray with some of the melted butter and margarine.

2) Set the fish in the tray, skin side down. Brush some of the melted butter mixture over the fish, and season with the salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Using nonstick cooking spray, grease the grill basket very well.

3) Secure the fish, still in the foil tray, in the grill basket. Grill the fish, flesh side down, for about 10 minutes; the cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fillet.

4) Slip the grill basket over, brush the fish with the melted butter mixture, cover the grill, and continue cooking. If your grill does not have a cover, loosely cover the grill basket with a sheet of aluminum foil. Grill the skin side down for 3 to 5 minutes.

5) Test the center of the fillet with the tip of a knife to ensure that it is cooked through. Carefully remove the fish from the grill basket and serve the fillet whole or portion it into the desired number of servings. Dress with sauce or garnishes of your choice.

Simple Ricotta Dessert

In southern Italy where the ricotta is super-fresh, there are all kinds of simple uses. We spread it on bread, stir it into sauce, or just eat it with a spoon! This country dolce dates back at least a century, when cooking and life were simpler. It's still a delicious pleasure that impress your guests (and doesn't require measuring or baking!) The pears can be cored and stuffed with ricotta, or you can do this no-fuss version.

Ricotta-Pear Dessert

Peel and slice two fresh, ripe pears. Arrange four or five slices on a plate.

Put a dollop of fresh ricotta on top.

Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with chocolate flakes or dust with cocoa powder. You can add a pinch of cinnamon or ginger, too.

This can also be arranged on top of a slice of pound cake or sponge cake.

Put the chicken breasts on the BBQ and mix the ingredients together in a large bowl. Continuously brush the sauce all over the chicken breasts, (remember to be generous with the sauce). When the chicken is grilled and fully cooked, serve with rice and corn cobs.

This meal will taste unforgettable and everyone will be a happy camper.KOA Campgrounds

Before leaving to camp: mix all of the marinade ingredients together. Put meat and marinade in a ziplock freezer bag, and put in the RV refrigerator. Let marinate while traveling to your destination (at LEAST a good 3 hours is best). While your spouse is setting up camp, you can throw the meat on the grill (or campfire rack). Cook until juices run clear, or to desired doneness.

Dice and sauté onion, bell pepper and jalepeno pepper with meat. In either a crock pot or baking dish, add beans, BBQ sauce and brown sugar. Cook in crock pot on high until thoroughly heated thru or in an oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve and enjoy as side dish or main dish.KOA Campgrounds

Brown the ground beef in a pot. Drain on paper towels. Cook onion in drippings or oil added to the pan. Add the beef back to the pot. Pour in cans of soup, corn, beans and Ro-tel. Cook until hot and bubbly. Taste before adding any additional seasoning. Great with biscuits or cornbread!KOA Campgrounds

BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until heated through, topping with bacon for the last 3 min.

kraft kitchens tips

FOOD FACTS

Young early-season squash can contain a lot of water. For best results, drain the scooped-out squash in a colander to remove excess water before mixing it with the cheese, peppers and onions as directed.

HOW TO KEEP THE FILLED SQUASH SHELL UPRIGHT

To keep the filled squash shell upright in baking dish, form a sheet of foil into a ring, then place around bottom of squash to stabilize.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, green onions and cayenne pepper.Transfer the mixture to a shallow baking dish.Top mixture with cracker crumbs and bake for 15 minutes, or until heated through.Remove the pan from the oven and top with the bacon. Serve immediately with corn chips, bagel chips or crackers.

Cook the potatoes and cool. When cool slice into 1/4 inch slices and set aside. In medium size sauce pan prepare the white sauce. To the prepared white sauce add the Velveeta and stir until the Velveeta is melted and the sauce is smooth. Add salt and pepper and stir. Add the potatoes slices to a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes and gently turn to coat all the potatoes. In a separate bowl mix the bread crumbs and melted butter together and then sprinkle over the potatoes. Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 additional minutes till bread crumb topping is golden brown.

In saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Whisk in the flour salt and pepper and mix until smooth. Gradually add the milk and bring to a slow boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer the sauce for 2 minutes until thickened; use immediately.

Method: Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the lukewarm milk. Add the butter, then flour,eggs, well beaten and the salt. Beat well. Let rise and beat again. If the dough should rise too quickly, place in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Roll out very thinkly and use a small diamond shaped cutter. Butter each piece individually and fill a ring half full. Let rise to double in bulk and bake in a moderatley hot oven (425 degrees F.) for about 20 minutes."

Music

Songs About Food

WHAT IF? An imaginary record cover for a compilation of food-inspired music.

AOL recently contacted me to create a playlist of food-inspired songs for its "Blogger Radio" station on AOL Radio (see below for details on how to listen). After much digging through my own music collection (and some serendipitous searching online), I came up with 100 songs.

There's a heavy emphasis upon jazz and blues, a slathering of R&B, a douse of hip-hop, along with a sprinkling of pop classics and a dusting of heavy metal (o.k., just one -- Def Leppard's cheesetastic "Pour Some Sugar on Me").

As I pored over all of this gastro-music, it became pretty clear that food is more often than not a (barely veiled) euphemism for sex. Candy seems to trump just about everything edible as the most frequent object of desire. Other songs are culinary in name only (take Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki," for example), while others immerse themselves in a heady contemplation of appetite -- I'm thinking here of the Fat Boys' great, tragicomic "Jail House Rap." And then there's food as abstraction in the form of Dizzy Gillespie's manic be-bop standard, "Salt Peanuts."

You can find the complete playlist (in alphabetical order) below. It's not comprehensive, so if you have a favorite food song that isn't covered here, please share it in the comments.

Tune In: For PC Users, listen by clicking here. If you're on a Mac, download the AOL Radio player, log in with your AOL/AIM screenname, and select "Blogger Radio" under the "Soundtracks & Themes" category. The playlist will be up until June 14, when the station gets turned over to the next DJ/blogger.

Tasty! Songs for Food Lovers

All That Meat And No Potatoes by Fats Waller

All You Can Eat by the Fat Boys

Artichoke by Cibo Matto

Augustus Gloop by Danny Elfman

Augustus Gloop by The Poozies

Banana Boat (Day-O) by Harry Belafonte

Beans And Cornbread by Louis Jordan

Beef Jerky by Cibo Matto

Birthday Cake by Cibo Matto

Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze

Bowl Of Oranges by Bright Eyes

Brown Sugar by D'Angelo

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones

Candy by Cameo

Candy by Morphine

Candy (Drippin' Like Water) by Snoop Dogg

Candy Shop by 50 Cent

Catfish by Bob Dylan

Catfish Blues by Jimi Hendrix

Chicken Grease by D'Angelo

Chicken Noodle Soup by Webstar & Young B

Chicken Soup With Rice by Carole King

Chocolate Buttermilk by Kool & The Gang

Chocolate City by Parliament

Chocolate Factory by R. Kelly

Choux Pastry Heart by Corinne Bailey Rae

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright

Cookin' by Clifford Brown

Crawfish by Elvis Presley

Days Of Wine And Roses by Henry Mancini

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost by Lonnie Donegan